Garden Girl

 I live in a little house by the woods.....

Sometimes the woods can swallow you up

 and sometimes the woods can fill you up

 

The profusion of spring

My goal this year is to plant something other than a Lacrosse net on this side of the yard!

Just planted this Tradescantia, supposedly not favored by deer

 

I moved the sign outside and I like it much better here 

My mixed media finds a home and gives some color

 to my brown abode

The tall lantern was a steal at homegoods for $12.99 on clearance

Last year the front of the deck got a facelift with some new stepping stones

 When this guy's got to go first thing in the morning they come in handy for bare feet

 

 no shoes required

I love being able to get

anywhere I need to go without shoes ...

 Hopping to the lawn, the driveway, or the grill

 I built this table from scrap and this year scored these two teak beauties for $10 at a garage sale

I also built this serving table from scrap

It's a great place for potting too...

 This Sunday I'm married to this man for 23 years

Sorry for the fuzzy picture but I just really dig those shoes!!

See that bare spot in the middle?

 I've told him I'd like to plant a tree in honor of our years together and have

 a symbolic ceremony of burying the hills and valleys of  our marriage down in the dirt with the roots...

our future years growing upward toward the trees ....

Awe, that man just thinks I'm crazy....

Tell ya what, we're either doing that or finally completing my Garden Piano Sculpture element - Oh what a doorbell it will be!

If I was a wealthy woman beyond measure I certainly would not be having this much fun!

There are so many great garden blogs (added some to my sidebar) and so many great diy opportunities in the yard!


Go read Tara Dillard to learn about vanishing threshold....blur the lines between inside and out....

I leave you with a little moss and a song...

LINKING UP....

Window Seat Cheat

My window seat cushion had seen better days.  I don't know about you but I seem to get the most done when I'm under the gun!

So, two days before our neighborhood girl's night out I decided it had to be done.  I really love how it turned out.   

I bought 6 yards of fabric for about $25 at fabricguru.com

Making cushions is an art, difficult to master (I still have not).
 I'll admit not one of my favorite things to do. 
   I was rushing so I got a bit of puckering.
 tsk tsk

that's ok...

I don't mind making rectangular cushions with a zipper and all, but these trapezoids are murder to me.  

I like to do my cushion this way now

Step 1:  First cut plywood the shape of your seat or bench.

Step 2:  Add foam on top (mine is 3")

Step 3:  Add some batting on top of that and staple it onto the plywood

To measure and cut the top piece of fabric....
Step 4:  Put the seat on top of your fabric and trace it all the way around with the good side of your fabric facing up. 

Step 5:  Cut your fabric a 1/2" larger than your traced line

Step 5:  Make your cord (there are lots of tutorials out there)

Step 6:  Sew your cord to your cushion top

Now you need to add the side pieces...First I cut 2 10" strips to be used for the boxed sides and sewed them together to get one really long piece that would wrap all the way around the sides.

Step 7:  Sew the boxed piece for the sides to your top piece with the cord attached

Step 8:  Put your cushion on and staple the whole thing onto the plywood bottom
Step 9:  Forget about any little puckers or imperfections and grab a book!

 You can see the previous cover had buttons.
 Oh bother, I didn't remove the strings.

I may add some buttons like these

ooh that would be fun!

For today, I think we'll just sit back and enjoy a good book...

Hmmmm...very interesting indeed!


Linking up....

Happy Mother's Day

My mom, the eldest of four sisters...

Mom in the middle of work friends always trying to make it fun.

My mom would have been Vivi in the Ya Ya sisterhood....spunky and imaginative

Mom had two families

Her first daughter was mentally handicapped or challenged.  In those days they used the term retarded for children like my sister.

Mom was part of the crew that started the first day camp for handicapped children in NJ.

  Mom coined the name Camp Star (which she said was Rats backwards as in Oh Rats!

Oh Mom, you could weave quite a tale and would often embellish the truth.  We grew up thinking Elvis Presley was a Lithuanian like my mother and that his real name was Elvis Preslauskas.  My brother and I adamantly re-told this tale to everyone at school.

 
Mom loved cigarette pants and wore them her whole life

 Quite the Gamine

Always stylish and always changing her hair color or grabbing the scissors and chopping it off!

 I love these old wispy pictures...

What is it that makes a memory...

Snippets of the past, pieces of you that pass down to me...

 revealed in a glimpse, a smile or mannerism in me and my own children.

 ME in my way cool hat and my brother right in front.

 

Mom and Dad (woah look at that shirt Dad!)  

Mom, the original Demi, married my Dad 10 years her junior.  I'm sure that caused quite a stir! Sadly it did not last...

 Mom and me with my Italian grandparents.  Always horsing around. 

Thanks Mom for teaching me how to do things!

We would knock down walls, build patios, plant gardens, and dance in circles...

 I so vividly remember driving around in your bright yellow volkswagon bug convertible, sunflower on the antenna, on some great adventure!

Epilogue

My mom lived to the ripe old age of 91.  I was fortunate to have been her caregiver during the last year and a half of her life.  We would sit in the sun in her treehouse by the river faces tilted up to the sky and clouds.  Mom wove her tales right to the end.   She had a favorite cloud that she said would come visit her and rest on her rooftop.   

Mom loved her baby sister Adele and left the most loving message on her answering machine just before she died.  She told her sister how much love she had for her and how beautiful she had been to her during her life.  It gives me great comfort to listen to that recording and makes me remember all of the wonderful pieces of you Mom..

Here we are that last summer in Adele's garden.  

Hmmmm, looks like the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.
What AM I doing with that zucchini!

Weekend Bliss

On my way to pick up my daughter from Bard College in Red Hook NY

I stopped at the famous VNA rummage sale that's held twice a year in Far Hills, NJ

 I didn't have much time and the lines were crazy

 

Being the true junker, thrifter, fix it enthusiast that I am I couldn't very well just drive by without a quick stop.  The pull was too strong!

The sale is set up in tents and they collect items for practically an entire month before the sale

 

There's a vintage tent with furniture items, toys of course, books, window treatments, clothing, electrical, framed art, china, etc.. You name it, they have a tent for it jammed with stuff!

Last year my friend Joan spotted Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar

image via Eddie Ross

 I don't know if they made an appearance this year

I only bought one thing

but it was worth the stop.  

 I really bought it for the frame which is heavy and gorgeous.  By the time I got home I started to love the sweet needlepoint preserved so lovingly inside.

It was professionally framed behind glass and looks quite old.   I swear it glows when the light hits it.

It goes really well with my newly re-purposed tv armoire which will include more jewely storage on the doors.   I removed all the weird tv supports and added shelves inside.

 I received the velvet for my little vanity bench, mmm scrumptious!

To top it all off my daughter Alex and I went to see Andrew Bird, singer, violinist, whistler

ex·tra·or·di·naire

at the Beacon Theatre!  We had such a great night.

 Here he is in London just days before we saw him.  

He's a master on the violin with sweet, soulful style!  His music touches the heart of me and makes my brain fire in the most unexpected ways.
 Thank you Mr. Bird!

and he's pretty darn cute too!
 ...with Stephen Colbert

A most wonderful blissful weekend!